Dementia-friendly Design: Setting a New Standard in Healthcare Architecture

The industry’s response cannot be just reactionary – it must work to proactively create spaces to support this growing demographic. Ruth Evans, associate here at CPMG, highlights embedding this responsibility to leading dementia-friendly design through healthcare design, emphasising its increasing importance.

The NHS has recently disclosed that England is experiencing a record number of dementia diagnoses, with 487,432 diagnoses in the country as of June 2024. With one of the highest diagnosis rates globally, the urgency to address the needs of individuals living with dementia has never been more critical. High-income countries typically report diagnosis rates between 20 and 50%, positioning England at the forefront of this health concern.

The implications of these statistics are profound. As architects, we must recognise that the built environment plays a crucial role in the quality of life for individuals diagnosed with dementia. Our designs must evolve to ensure safety, comfort, and a sense of autonomy for those affected. At CPMG, our goal is to champion the creation of healthcare spaces that are conclusively dementia-friendly, with additional infrastructure to accommodate dementia patients who may be receiving treatment for unrelated conditions. This holistic approach ensures that every environment within a healthcare facility is supportive and accessible, regardless of the primary reason for a patient’s visit.

Principles of Dementia-Friendly Design

Dementia-friendly design is guided by several core principles, each aiming to enhance the well-being of individuals living with dementia. These principles are pivotal to effective design and must be integrated at every stage of a healthcare project to ensure optimal considerations within the overall design are met.

1. Safety and Accessibility: Ensuring spaces are free from hazards and easily navigable. This includes clear wayfinding and signage, unobstructed pathways, and the use of non-slip flooring materials that are also matte and unreflective to ensure that perception that a fall may be wet or unsafe is not possible.
2. Familiarity and Orientation: Creating environments that are easy to understand and navigate, with visual cues and landmarks to aid orientation including elements such as single-colour signage. Consistent and intuitive design elements are incredibly effective here to reduce confusion and anxiety, with the simplest design often being the most effective option. An example of this is WC doors utilising one colour across both options, preventing confusion and allowing for cognitive recognition – which in turn can reduce anxiety and uncertainty.

This is also prevalent in the implementation of design elements that match modern perception of the condition, in which spaces must also work to support the reduction of stigmatism and increase privacy and dignity.

1. Social Spaces: Designing communal areas that encourage social interaction and reduce isolation. These spaces are integral to mental health and wellbeing, providing opportunities for engagement and community. Allowing for freedom of movement is vital here and can be done through appropriate accessibility measures included at the design stage.
2. Calm and Comfort: Utilising colours, lighting, and acoustics to create soothing environments, prioritising natural light, reduction of noise pollution, and the use colour schemes that promote calmness such as solid blues and greens. It is important to avoid bold patterns and stripes as the designs can be confusing and disorientating.
3. Personalisation: Allowing for personal touches and customisation within living spaces to foster a sense of ownership and belonging. This can include areas for personal mementos and photographs. A space should act as a framework for shared decision making between the person with dementia and care or support workers to take place, allowing the person to maintain their health and wellbeing independently as much as possible.

Innovating with Empathy

Facilities must be conceptualised with input from healthcare professionals, caregivers, and, crucially, individuals living with dementia – before the architects can bring a space to life.

The result of this is the creation of a space where every detail, from the layout of the rooms to the choice of furnishings, serves a purpose for the people that will be using it the most. This includes elements such as wide, well-lit corridors with handrails, color-coded areas to signify different functions, and safe outdoor gardens spaces, as just a few examples of how thoughtful design can make a difference.

Pivotally, this process showcases what is one of the most crucial stages in an architect's work, and an increased focus on this stage when working on towards the creation of these much-needed spaces is not only fruitful for the person with dementia and their support staff, but also the architect involved. It provides the opportunity to work holistically, to improve skill set and client care that can only be learnt through being exposed to projects such as these, that are prominent within the healthcare industry especially.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Healthcare Design

Dementia-friendly design is not just a trend but a fundamental aspect of healthcare architecture. As diagnosis rates continue to climb, the need for environments that support and enhance the lives of those living with dementia will only grow and the role of architecture becomes increasingly vital. Design elements must match the modern perception of the condition, with spaces also needing to work to support the reduction of stigmatism for those with dementia as awareness of the diagnosis continues to grow.

Our commitment as architects extends beyond individual projects. We are advocates for industry-wide adoption of dementia-friendly standards.

By championing dementia-friendly design, we are not only responding to a pressing need but also setting a new standard for healthcare environments. Our vision is a future where every healthcare facility is a sanctuary of safety, dignity, and comfort for all individuals, regardless of their cognitive health.

Within our work at CPMG, we are proud to be continually growing our knowledge in designing spaces that respect and enhance the lives of those living with dementia, supporting a clear benchmark for the industry and paving the way for a more inclusive future.